We do: Gay marriages go ahead in Ark. capital

May 12, 2014
|

Susan Farr, top, and Shelly Butler leave the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark., after being married on Monday, the first day marriage licenses were granted to same-sex couples in the county. / Danny Johnston AP

by Bob Heist , The (Mountain Home, Ark.) Baxter Bulletin

by Bob Heist , The (Mountain Home, Ark.) Baxter Bulletin

LITTLE ROCK - As same-sex couples lined up Monday to receive marriage licenses at the Little Rock courthouse in the wake of a judge's ruling overturning Arkansas' constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, some county clerks refused to issue the licenses. Also Monday, lawyers for the state asked the highest court to suspend the judge's order.

The Pulaski County clerk's office handed out its first same-sex marriage license shortly after 8 a.m. The move followed Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza's Friday decision that Arkansas' voter-approved ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. Piazza did not issue a stay, and 15 same-sex couples obtained marriage licenses Saturday in the liberal tourist town of Eureka Springs.

Most county clerks waited until Monday to address Piazza's ruling.

The first Little Rock license went to Shelly Butler, 51, and Susan Barr, 48, of nearby Dallas, who have been together since they met at Southern Arkansas University in 1985.

"When we heard the news in Arkansas, we had to jump in the car to get here," Butler said shortly before receiving the license. "I'm just excited to marry my best friend of almost 30 years, finally."

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who recently said he supported gay marriage but would defend the ban, filed paperwork Monday morning formally asking the state Supreme Court to temporarily set aside Piazza's ruling.

Without a stay, clerks throughout the state were left to decide for themselves whether to issue the licenses. Some said they would wait for further guidance from a higher court.

The office of the Faulkner County clerk said Sunday that it will not be issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

"With all due respect to the Third Division Circuit Court of Pulaski County, a circuit court does not establish or strike down statewide law," Faulkner County Attorney David Hogue said in a statement Sunday. "That would be the role of the State Supreme Court."

Even neighboring counties approached the issue differently.

In her office at the Baxter County Courthouse in downtown Mountain Home, Ark., Clerk Canda Reese said her office will not issue same-sex marriage licenses. Reese also said that Boone County will not issue the licenses either.

However, Marion County Clerk Dee Carleton confirmed that her office in Yellville will issue marriage licenses to gay partners. As of late Monday morning, Carleton said her office issued one marriage license to a gay couple. The clerk's office said two men from Yellville received the license.

Carroll County clerks offices in Berryville and Eureka Springs, which issued the first 15 licenses Saturday, said Monday that they were no longer granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It will now just issue licenses that include a man and a woman.

More than 100 people gathered outside the Pulaski County courthouse before doors opened Monday. Randy Eddy-McCain, pastor of Open Door Community Church, was on hand to help perform marriage ceremonies for those seeking licenses at the courthouse. Eddy-McCain, who is gay, married his partner in New York. He said he looked forward to presiding over same-sex ceremonies in Arkansas.

"I want to get everybody in that I can before they issue a stay," said Eddy-McCain, who along with his husband is a plaintiff in the lawsuit that led to Piazza's ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that a law forbidding the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. Using language similar to that from the Supreme Court, state and federal judges nationwide have struck down other same-sex marriage bans and ordered states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.